Waders (Sandpipers, Stints, Godwits, Curlews, Tattler and Snipes)

Order CHARADRIIFORMES

Waders
Borneo is visited in the non-breeding season by large number of Palaearctic waders. They breed in northern or eastern or central Asia and winter in southern and South-East Asia or even further south in the Moluccas or northern Australia. Only one wader (the Malaysian Plover) is known to breed in our area. The rest sweep down in Aug and Sep, some remaining with us through the winter, others passing on further south. They are walking and running birds of small to medium size, often with long legs, and they are essentially birds of open country. Nearly all of them are more or less closely associated with water and wet places; some prefer the open beaches and mudflats of the coast and islands; others (Common Sandpipers, Little Ringed Plover) are birds of the rivers; others again (Wood Sandpiper, Snipe) prefers marshes and wet padi fields; a few (Grey and Golden Plovers, Snipe) may be found on dry ground where there is short grass, They are mostly birds of rapid flights with quick wing-action, the wings being usually rather pointed and appearing angled in flight because they are not extended to the full. The legs are extended beneath the tail in flight.

The summer and winter plumages of waders often differs conspicuously. The time of moulting being very erratic, adults in nearly complete winter and nearly complete summer plumages may be seen together, and, as the juvenile are often more or less distinct from either, field identification of some species is often rather puzzling. (Smythies, The Birds of Borneo, 1999)